Learning
by Sione
Summary: Daxter joins Jak on what appears to be an easy mission but it doesn’t turn out exactly as planned. Sequel to “After Friendship”, can be read by itself as well. JakxDaxter human
1. Chapter 1

_I'm back again, with a new story. It's a short sequel to "After friendship", you don't have to have read it to read this. I think you'll be able to understand pretty well anyway._

I guess I should warn you it's not your typical Daxter in this one. He's a bit more reflective and a little less talkative. But he has his reasons. I think this will end up being two chapter, but we will see.

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It had started out like the beginning of any other mission. Just the usual stuff, some metal heads had been spotted at the east gate and Jak was sent out to take care of them. No big deal really, a piece of cake for the big guy. Maybe that's why Jak had, though very reluctantly of course, agreed to let me join him. He would probably not have been so averse to the idea if not for the fact that I would not be joining him as an ottsel on his shoulder, but in my new, and might I say very fine looking human form. But really, I felt fit for the mission, in perfect gear and with my gun hooked at my waist. I still wasn't very good at using it but it looked cool and at least the backfire didn't make me recoil any longer. And just last week Jak had praised me when I managed to hit the practice target with the majority of my shots. I was quite pleased with myself that day.

I still didn't like it though; I don't think I ever will. A gun just doesn't feel the same when you killed someone with it. Before I could always pretend that it was this cool looking thing that with its mere presence could scare away any enemy. But I knew it wasn't, that it actually was there to hurt, to kill I had just hoped that I never had to make use of it.

I don't really know where I've got this ridiculous innocence from, and how the heck I've been able to keep it in Haven City of all places, where people get killed all the time. I was like a sheltered and well-protected puppy that had seen the real world for the first time. But even so, I knew that wasn't true, I had seen it in all its ugliness before, that was for sure.

The two years alone in Haven City had made certain of that. Though now I think I had in some way been so focused on finding and rescuing Jak that I had been blind to most of it. I had to be strong to survive, so that's what I had become. Maybe I did see some horrible stuff, but it had all went away when meeting Jak again.

Suddenly my two years had seemed like a walk in the park. There really was no comparing. I think it all just slipped out of my mind in that moment, it wasn't important any longer. Jak needed me, so I put everything else aside. The problem was that while I thought I might have done a good job at making Jak forget, the sneaky bastard himself had done just the same thing, but without me even noticing it. My Jak was back, taking charge, and suddenly I didn't have to think about what a mean and nasty place Haven City really was. Jak had done his best to make me forget, and man had he been good at it. I just wish I could've done the same for him.

As a result, that night in the alley had been like a bucket of ice cold water right in my face, an awakening that was long overdue. Haven City wasn't a safe place, and it was kill or be killed. And I was just lucky I had done the killing that time and not the other way around. Jak had learned that lesson a long time ago, that's why we both were still alive today.

It was time I did the same.

Therefore I tried to put my uneasy feelings aside for the gun and embrace it for what it was, protection from the big bad wolves roving the streets of Haven City. Nevertheless I knew Jak caught some of the reluctance in my eyes at times. It bugs me that he notices. Not so much for my sake, but for him, because I know he blames himself for what happened.

He always does.

He still feels it was a lesson I shouldn't and didn't need to learn, but I knew otherwise now.

"Are you ready?" Jak's voice was tense.

I turned to face him from the spot on the bed I'd been occupying for the last ten minutes, starring at the wall.

"Yeah."

Jak was ready too, in his usual outfit of leather and metal, with his gun over his right shoulder. His taut body language spoke of the same thing as the tone of his voice.

Maybe it was cruel of me to insist on going with him when I knew he hated it so much. But on the other hand I thought it was cruel of him to leave me behind. He might have hated to bring me along, but at least I had the best by my side to protect me. If he was out there alone who would have his back if something went wrong?

It was pure torture to stay behind knowing that. And if anything did go wrong I might not be of much help, but I rather be there with him, instead of sitting at the bar waiting and worrying. At least one thing was for sure, if he was going down, I was going down with him. I know Jak didn't want that, but that was my decision to make, tough luck for him.

I knew he would soon give me the usual speech that was repeated before every mission, "if something happens, transform and get the hell out of there, Daxter."

Yeah right, I did that once and regretted it ever since, look were you ended up because of it, big guy.

I never said that out loud but that's what was going through my mind every time he said stuff like that, instead I just gave him some kind of vague nod or a sound that could be interpreted as consent.

"You know the drill Dax. If something happens, transform, find a hiding place and when the coast is clear get back to Headquarters."

I sighed inwardly, and then grunted as I got up from the bed, hoping that Jak would take it as a sound of approval.

It seemed to work, since Jak caught me in a hug and looked pleased with the answer that wasn't so much one. He would never abandon me, I couldn't see how he expected me to do anything less to him.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're awfully quiet today," he pointed out.

Oh, so he had picked up on that. I guess I wasn't my usual chatty and lively self today. I'm probably thinking too much these days. That can't be good for my image.

"You sure you want to come, you could just stay here." Jak stroked my hair just the way I liked it, and was with just barely noticeable movements guiding me back to the bed again. He could be such a sneaky little thing, my Jak.

However with a firm push in the opposite the direction I stopped him.

"No, just thinking, I'm fine, let's go." I grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the door.

"You wont get rid of me that easily hot-stuff. Come on, we have some stinky metal heads to shoot."

We took a zoomer to the eastern district. It wasn't the sewers, but it was damn stinky anyway. Luckily I didn't have my sensitive nose. It really was amazing how dull the human nose was, but in cases like these it was a blessing. Still I buried my face into Jak's back to shut out the faint smell my human nose did manage to pick up. Instead I inhaled something much better, scent á la Jak. Some would probably not call it a very pleasant smell. It was a mix of leather, sweat and a trace of something musky that was uniquely Jaks'. It was comforting and safe, I loved it. I wonder how I smelled to Jak, I had to remember ask him sometime. It was no use now, he had already gone into mission mode, watchfully scanning the area for any traces of danger. You could talk all you want with him, which I usually did, but you couldn't expect to get a decent answer out of him. Questions were better for later.

The zoomer came to a sudden stop and my face smashed into Jak's back. I rubbed my poor abused nose.

"You could have warned me," I complained for good measure.

"Sorry." Jak let his concentration slip just long enough to lean down and place a peck on my forehead then he grabbed his gun from its holster and continued scanning the surrounding.

It was worrying that metal heads were attacking Haven City. The so called government of the city didn't seem overly concerned about it. Some citizen casualties weren't anything that would keep Baron Praxis awake at night. Just as long as they stayed away from Haven Palace and didn't become too many I think he almost welcomed them. They worked as a good distraction. After all you didn't have much time to start an uproar against the regime if you were busy with avoiding getting killed by metal heads all the time.

"You think Torn will be sending us any other mission besides metal head-hunting soon?" I asked as we walked down a shabby looking alley.

"I don't know, Dax."

What did I say about the question, you just can't get a decent answer out of him when we're on a mission.

"You would think he had some better missions for the Demolition Duo than take out a few metal heads," I continued since Jak didn't seem inclined to talk.

Then he suddenly held up his hand up in a silencing gesture. I stopped to listen, I could hear it too. We had found them.

I got my gun up with fumbling hands and nearly dropped it in the process, Jak sighed and I glared at him, daring him to say anything about it. Instead he just leaned forward, kissed my cheek and whispered in my ear.

"Remember what I've told you."

I wasn't sure if he was referring to what he had taught me during shooting lessons or the fact that I should get the hell away from here if things went bad. Nevertheless I gave him a short nod.

Jak was usually not much for sneaking up on his enemies. Therefore all he did was round the corner of the old run down building we had been hiding behind and went to work.

Poor metal heads, never saw it coming

The first one went down fast. They hadn't had time to see us before it dropped dead with a bullet to its brain. Then it was a chaos of blurring motions and flying bullets, in which I felt I did little good. Jak kept pushing me behind him and I had little chance at getting in a good shot. I believe I might have hit one of them, maybe, but I think it was already dead when I shot it.

Jak was as usual efficiency personified, and never let any of the beasts get even close. Well, they did make it awfully easy for us, they were practically lined up ahead of us when we found them. The last ones though, did give us a bit more trouble then the rest.

In the chaos they had managed to creep up behind us, maybe they were the smarter two of the group. Jak hadn't noticed them yet so I tugged his arm, and pointed them out before they got a chance to attack. As soon as Jak spotted them they went down fast. And I could at least feel that I had done something good this mission.

I exhaled a small sigh of relief when the last one dropped dead. Just because I insisted on tagging along on the missions, didn't mean I liked it. I just wanted to hop up on that zoomer and get back to our place.

"You did good, Dax." Jak holstered his gun and put an arm around my shoulder, placed a kiss at my temple and squeezed me close for a moment before letting go. I think I must have looked a little shaken up.

I still wasn't very useful during the shooting part but the after work I could do. Thus I ended up manoeuvring my way around bodies of dead metal heads and helped Jak search for any traces of eco. Eco had a tendency to show up wherever the metal heads did so Torn had made sure to properly nag about the importance of looking for it when we spotted metal heads. And if we did find any it always could earn us a little extra bonus on our meagre pay check. Unfortunately this time we didn't. When we had searched for what I felt like was forever, I arched my back and yawned.

"We can go home now, right?"

"Soon, Daxter, soon," Jak answered absent-minded while kicking up some dirt from the ground.

I know I sounded whinny, but the smell was starting to get a bit too much. It was giving me a headache. And my new wonderful shiny boots were not so shiny anymore, since I stepped in some dark unidentified sludge. I think a shower with Jak would be just the thing right now. I know Jak would enjoy it too, I would make sure he would. A devious smile was spreading across my lips at the thought. I glanced up to see where he disappeared to so I could drag him back to the zoomer.

That's when I saw them coming from around the corner, red clothed, with damn ugly looking helmets.

Krimzon Guards.

I think my heart skipped a beat. Sure the metal heads were scary and all that, but they where pretty dumb and Jak usually didn't have much problem with them. I know logically that it's just ordinary people under those helmets and armour, nasty people, but still people. Nevertheless they still freak me out, they are the ones who took my sweet Jak and two years later spit out a raging dark thing with scars all over his body. If an encounter with a metal head goes bad, the worse thing that could happen is death. If an encounter with Krimzon Guards goes bad, you probably wished that you were dead. Some part of me will always be terrified that they will drag Jak back to Baron Praxis and continue doing whatever horrible things they were doing to him during those two years.

And that must never happen again. Never.

In the corner of my eye I could see Jak coming up beside me. He saw my tense posture and followed my line of sight to the incoming danger. Anyone else would probably have missed the immediate change I saw in Jak the instant he saw what I was looking at. The taut body, the tightening fist around the handle of the gun and the grinding of teeth. Even so, he still looked like an image of calmness. I think my own hands were shaking slightly but I didn't dare to look down.

"Jaak?" I inquired, still waiting for him to act, to decide the next move.

My voice seemed to break him out of his trance, and in to action.

Without taking his eyes from the incoming danger he spoke with a surprisingly calm and reassuring tone.

"Daxter, go back to the zoomer and let me handle this."

But that didn't mean I liked what Jak was telling me.

"No," I answered firmly and gripped my gun tighter.

The Krimzon Guards had already spotted us and we both knew we didn't have time for arguing. Jak was not pleased I could tell, he knew he wasn't going to win this one.

"If things go bad, you know how I get, Dax."

Yeah, I knew. If there was one time when Dark Jak really wanted to make an appearance it was in the company of Krimzon Guards. They had been the ones that helped create him after all.

"I'm not afraid of you," I answered stubbornly. I glanced sideways at him and he met my gaze.

I knew by the look in his eyes that he on the other hand was in fact afraid of himself, what he might do. He doesn't like loosing control; I think that's the thing Jak hates the most about getting dark and gruesome. But I still don't think he loses himself completely, he might not be in total control of himself, but he's in there somewhere and that's why I'm not afraid. Sure, I'm a bit freaked out by it, who wouldn't be, but not afraid.

Jak broke the eye contact and looked back at the approaching Krimzon Guards. He knew it was no more time for discussing. Quickly he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me forwards so that our foreheads were pushed against each others.

"At least back off a few steps and stay behind me. Please."

Then he released me and pushed me away. Jak always knew what buttons he needed to push, I couldn't say no to that face. So I gave him some space and was at least pleased with that he couldn't make me abandon him completely. I would still have the big guy's back, if he needed it.

TBC

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_Please feed my muse and review!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Here's the second and last chapter, I had fun writing, I hope you'll like it!_

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The fight was quick and violent. I could see Jak wanted to end it quickly, and he probably would, there were only four of them after all. I don't know if they had forgotten about me or if they just didn't care, because they were obviously putting all their efforts on Jak. I winced as I saw the first one go down with the butt of Jak's gun in his face. It was hard not to feel a bit of sympathy, even though I knew they had done worse things to Jak. And would still do if they got the chance.

My own gun dangled uselessly from my hand, I didn't dare to use it. I knew with my aim I could just as well hit Jak. It was frustrating. And when seeing the big guy almost getting hit by a stray bullet I was starting to rethink my earlier statement about it being less nerve-wracking to tag alone than staying at home. Maybe this was worse for my nerves, my heart was beating like crazy. But I could still make a difference if I was here, that fact convinced me that I would rather be here than anywhere else.

I noticed that the fight had moved further away from me, so I decided to get a bit closer.

That's when I saw it. A Krimzon Guard had backed away a few steps from the actual fighting and was pointing his gun at Jak, who was busy fighting off the last two who had been forced to give up their guns at such close range. It wouldn't be a safe shot because he could still hit the remaining guards, but that didn't seem to be stopping him. Jak had his back to him and was making an excellent target.

I didn't think, I reacted.

I forgot the gun in my hand, or at least I forgot what it was used for. Because instead of taking aim, I rushed forward. It used to be my ottsel tactic, when I was too small for weapons, I used my body as one. It may sound like a poor one, but it was good for distraction. People never expected it. I've done it efficiently once before in a very similar situation. A Krimzon Guard had snuck up on Jak in the sewers with a gun aimed at his back, I had seen him coming and leaped from Jak's shoulder to cling at the guard's arm and bite every possible place I could get a hold off. It didn't do much damage, but it was enough to give Jak time to disarm him. It wasn't the best tactic safety wise, the guard had thrown me into a wall and left me groggy for the following two days. But it was worth it, so damn worth it, even if Jak had been furious with me.

I was not an ottsel any more but it was still a good tactic in my eyes. I flung myself at the guard and grabbed a hold of his arm, destroying his aim in the process. The shot went off and made my ears hurt but the bullet had missed its target. You see, I may not have much strength in my arms, but it's enough when people aren't expecting it. The tactic even proved to be more effective when I was in human size. This time the guard even stumbled slightly under the sudden weight hanging from his arm.

I didn't have any sharp teeth or claws but I still had the gun in my hand and I used that to smash it into the helmet clad face, hoping it would do some damage. It all went fairly well until a gloved hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, snapping it backward. I gasped when pain shot through my arm and the gun fell out of my limp grip. Then even worse pain exploded in my head when something hard and metallic hit the side of my face.

I think I might have blacked out for awhile, because when I woke up I was on the ground groaning from a splitting head ace. My ears rang, and I felt like I really needed to throw up. Still I managed to suppress the urge by swallowing thickly a couple of times. It felt like my right cheek was glued to the rough and filthy ground, or maybe my head was just too heavy to lift, whatever it was I took a moment of feeling absolutely miserable for myself. That's why it probably took me a few moments to notice, since I was so busy moaning and groaning.

The silence.

Everything was so quiet, no gunshots, no shouting. Sure you could hear some far away traffic in the background, but you always did that in Haven City. It got me a little worried; if the fight was over, shouldn't Jak be here right now?

My ears twitched when I finally did hear a faint sound. Rustling of fabric, and was that the sound of someone sniffing? Confused, I pried my eyes open and squinted at the world around me. You didn't see much when you had half of your face stuck to the ground, but I did manage to spot one thing. A clawed, greyish hand.

Oh, great.

This is a pretty deserted part of the city, right? I sure hoped so, because I knew Jakkie-boy wasn't up for any visitors at the moment. A low growl suddenly filled the air and confirmed my thoughts. Jak could definitely need some alone time.

I closed my eyes and wondered what would be my best move next, dark and creepy seemed relative calm at the moment. Maybe I should just wait him out, pretend that I was still unconscious. Any sudden movements seemed like a good idea to avoid. And my head pounded something awful, I wouldn't mind just resting for a bit, though it would have been nice to lay on something softer and cleaner. But at least the cool asphalt felt kind of nice against my cheek. I felt my eyes starting to close again.

However, my eyes flew open just as fast and I almost squeaked in surprise when I suddenly felt a light push at my shoulder, like someone was urging me to get up. I groaned. Then another push, a bit more insistent this time, followed by another low growl that almost ended up in a whine. Obviously dark thing wasn't too happy about me just laying there.

So I tried to get up. It made my head hurt even worse, and the nausea rose in volume but I did manage to get up in a sitting position without puking all over myself. I put down my right hand to the ground in an attempt to support my wobbly self but soon discovered that it was a bad idea when pain exploded through my apparently injured wrist. I gasped in pain and grabbed my throbbing wrist to press it against my chest, hoping to ease the throbbing. A deep growl was heard from behind me.

I froze.

In my struggle to get up I had almost forgotten. I slowly glanced over my shoulder.

"Jak?"

And there he was, carefully crouching behind me. Still watchful and sniffing the air intensely for any signs of danger. The long black talons scratched into the asphalt in agitated movements. Instead of Jak's beautiful blue eyes I met coal black ones, and in the now white long hair I could see curved horns.

"Hi there, big guy. So you went all dark and creepy, huh?"

Jak cocked his head to the side, staring at me with those pitch black eyes. Dark Jak never was much of a talker.

He seemed pretty calm though, so I waited another moment to see if my Jak was planning to return to the surface any time soon. When nothing happened, I sighed. I didn't really feel up to the task of taking care of Darkie with my head pounding as it was, but it turned out Jak was obviously still uneasy enough to contain his dark form.

He seemed anxious by me just sitting there, and what had been random growls at first had now turned in to a non stop growling and whining. The sounds were making my headache even worse. I gingerly rubbed my hurting temple with a grimace.

"Jak, I think anyone nearby is officially scared by now, so would you please stop with the growling macho thing you got going."

I wasn't too sure how much he understood when he was like this. Jak usually said he only had vague memories of it when he came to again, but to my relief Dark Jak made one last long growl before he shut the hell up.

I started to look around, wondering if it actually was anyone left to scare. At first the place seemed deserted, but when looking over Jak's shoulder I spotted the first body. Luckily, all in all it was just two of them, the other two guards must have been able to escape. The one that first caught my eyes was the guard that hit me in the face, at least I thought it was him since he was laying pretty much on the same spot as he been in when I lost consciousness. He was still in one piece, but with blood all over his clothes. It wasn't that noticeable at first, since his clothes was already red to start with, but the blood had a darker shade and when you looked closer you could see the stains on his clothes and the dark pool spreading from under his body. Not far away I spotted the second body but I choose not to look closer; he was still, that's all the information I needed. I looked down but instead my eyes caught Jak's clawed hand resting on the ground. The black talons still had blood spattered on them. I felt sick to my stomach.

Jak must have spotted my discomfort, because suddenly he was whining. I looked up to see him creeping closer, talons clicking on the ground. When he came closer I noticed the gash marring his pale face. Instinctively I reached out for him.

"Look at you big guy, you're hurt." I gingerly touched the wound running over Jak's cheek; he made a deep growl in his throat which practically sounded like a purr. Then he leaned into my hand, almost like a cat who wanted to be petted. I complied and scratched behind his long ears. The purr grew louder and he rubbed his head against my palm.

"You just big softie, aren't you?" I smiled and scratched harder. "I will have fun teasing you for this later."

Jak didn't seem to register anything I was saying. Instead, like a love sick puppy he butted his head into my chest, and in the process almost poked my eye out with the sharp tip of his horn.

"Hey big guy, watch it with those things. You almost poked my eye out."

Darkie didn't take much notice of my protests; he just rammed his head harder into my chest and almost pushed my unsteady form over with his intense pushing.

"Hey, stop that."

Thoughtless as I was I instinctively caught myself with my right hand to keep from falling. This time it hurt even worse than the first time and I howled out my pain, and cursed my stupidity. A heartbeat later I found myself jostled by a big weight and abruptly I was caught in a fierce hug that almost pressed the breath out of my lungs. I heard a loud growling by my right ear. Jak's firm chest was pressed up at my back and his arms were wrapped tightly around me.

I took a couple of deep breaths to steady my voice before I tried to reassure the snarling creature huddling over me.

"It's alright, I'm ok buddy."

The arms tightened around me and the pressure over my chest was making it hard to breath. I pushed at the arms insistently.

"Come on big guy, loosen up, you're choking me."

To my relief the pressure over my chest eased a bit. Now that I could move more easily I snaked my uninjured hand from Jak's grip and petted his forearm comfortingly.

"It's alright, no nasty Krimzon Guards left, just you and me buddy."

Jak answered me with a growl but I could feel his body relax behind me. I yelped when a nose pushed itself into the crook of my neck and started to sniff loudly. I hunched my shoulder in attempt to ward the insistent nose off.

"God, that tickles Jak, stop it!"

Yes, that's my weakness, and Jak knows it very well. I'm ticklish as hell everywhere. Usually he's kind enough to not use it against me, at least not too much. I don't think he was doing it on purpose at the moment though, but it still didn't take away the fact that his sniffing was making my whole body squirm, my neck is sensitive dammit!

When the verbal protest didn't work I settled for violence and smacked him in the forehead to make him back off.

Jak grunted, but backed off with a whine.

"You have yourself to blame, buddy."

I did my best to look over my shoulder so I could scowl at him. He blinked at me.

"Don't give me that kicked-dog look. You know I'm ticklish, and what's up with the whole sniffing thing anyway?"

He just kept staring at me, so I gave up and threw myself back against his chest again with a huff. My head ached and my wrist throbbed, I just wanted to get home instead on sitting on the cold ground in some godforsaken part of Haven City with a sniffing Jak hanging over me. But with a damaged wrist and blurry vision I knew driving home was not an option. Besides, Jak still hadn't had much time to show me how the zoomer worked, even though I had nagged him about it. Consequently I just had to patiently wait for Jak to return to his old self so he could drive us home. I sighed, this could take awhile. I glanced up at the sky, it was already getting dark, just my luck.

The cold from the ground was starting to seep into my body, and the chilling breeze made me shiver. Jak growled and pulled me closer. We were sitting out in the open and even though it was a fairly deserted part of the City it didn't seem like a wise place to be. We were perfect targets to anyone that happened to walk by and the cold didn't make the situation any better. I looked around, as good as I could with Jak hovering over me, and I spotted some old buildings a bit ahead. If you sat in the shadows of those you would be hard to spot and have good protection against the cold wind. Perfect. I wiggled my way out of Jak's loose embrace.

"Come on, we're getting up."

I started to rise but one growl later I was caught and yanked by my arm into Jak's hold again, my head slammed against his chest. Oww. The restricting arms around my chest were back once more.

"Damn it Jak, that hurt!" I whined. "I'm not going anywhere, we're just moving. No danger, just moving."

I pushed myself up from his chest then stared into his eyes.

"We're going to walk to those buildings over there." I pointed them out. "Then we're going to wait there until you come back to your senses, and you're NOT going to toss me around like a ragdoll anymore, got it?" I emphasized it with a jabbing a finger into his chest. Sometimes you just got to be tough.

To my satisfaction Dark Jak looked subdued and whined low in his throat.

"It's alright buddy, just don't toss me around like that." I stroked his head, and he seemed pleased. He pushed harder into the hand.

Another cold wind made me shiver and I wrapped my jacket tighter around me.

"Come on, let's go before I freeze my ass off."

This time when I tried to get up, no clawed hand tried to stop me, instead Jak got up with me. He pressed up beside me with one arm around me and scanned our surroundings. I took a moment to lean against him while the dizzy spell that assaulted me passed. I really needed to lie down soon.

Before I got a chance to start walking I felt my world tilting and suddenly found myself in Jak's arms.

"Hey! This qualifies as ragdoll handling, put me down!"

This time my protests fell on deaf ears. When I started to struggle he tightened his grip and even had the nerve to growl at me. A bit unnerved by the fangs I spotted I fell quiet. At least he was going in the right direction; I guess I could let myself be carried if that would please him.

When Jak seemed satisfied with the wind-free and protected spot he found he sniffed the air a couple of times, searching for danger, then gracefully sank to the ground, with me still in his arms. He gently propped my head against his chest, then wrapped his arms around me and purred.

Getting off the cold ground and getting away from the chilly wind while being wrapped by your own personal radiator definitely felt kind of nice I must admit.

"Told you this was a good spot," I mumbled into his chest.

Jak just purred louder. He stroked his hands over my arms, careful to keep the deadly talons away from my skin. Something wet and warm touched my left temple, making my wound sting.

I swatted him away. "Hey, hey, none of that. No licking. We can wash it later, with water, like normal people do."

Jak complied and instead I felt his nose bury itself into my hair, ah that was better. My body still ached in some places but this was nice, warm and safe. I pushed myself deeper into his warm chest, Jak's loud purring vibrated into my ear. I could feel my body starting to relax and getting heavier with every second. With a content smile on my face I finally let sleep overtake my weary body.

The next time I woke I was luxuriously warm and I was resting on something soft, even softer than Jak's body. I stretched lazily, feeling content. A warm hand landed on my head and I could feel fingers playing with my tresses, which was nice. I loved it when someone played with my hair.

"Are you going to return to the world of living anytime soon?" an amused voice asked.

My eyes snapped open and I found myself staring into Jak's blue ones. I shot up in bed, and regretted it the moment after when my head started to pound. The hand that had been on my head helped steady me. I squinted up at Jak.

"Hey, you're not dark and creepy anymore."

His hair was once again green and blond, and greyish pale colour had disappeared from his face. The only thing marring his prefect feature was a small gash on his right cheek. I looked around and realised that Jak wasn't just back from his darkie trip, we were also back in our apartment. We had even changed clothes. Jak was now wearing a grey washed-out t-shirt and a pair of baggy pants. I spotted his armour hanging over a chair by the wall, it was cleaned from any evidence of blood and dirt. Looking down at myself I realised I was wearing my favourite sleeping wear, one of Jak's too big t-shirts that I had hogged for myself. That's when I also noticed the white bandage, neatly tied around my wrist. The cut on the side of my forehead felt clean and didn't sting as much as it did before either. Jak must have played nurse again, while I was out of it.

"I changed back a while after you fell asleep. We got back about two hours ago, you've been asleep the whole time. I was starting to wonder if you were going to sleep forever."

"Well, it is tiring taking care of your ass," I said with a grin.

Jak face grew serious. "Yeah, thanks for that, Dax." He paused before he continued. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"Naah, you were a bit bossy but besides that you were friendly as a puppy." As an afterthought I added, "Who liked a good head scratch."

I laughed, and was glad to see that my teasing had the desired effect when Jak's serious expression turned into a grin.

"Well, I seem to recall a certain ottsel who loves a good petting."

"That's so not the same thing, Jak," I huffed.

Then he got that look in his eyes. A look I knew couldn't be trusted. I started to back away when I saw him creep closer on the bed.

"And a certain red-head who is impossibly ticklish."

"You wouldn't dare." My eyes darted for an escape way when Jak's grin turned wider and he continued to move closer.

When I felt my back hit the headboard of the bed, I knew I was out of options. "Keep away from me, I'm injured, you can't attack someone who is injured, it's not fair game."

That's when Jak jumped me and pressed me down into the bed, easily keeping me subdued under him. Then he leaned over me with a smirk on his face, his breath hitting my face.

"Who said anything about it being fair?"

"Jaak!"

The End

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